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OpenAI didn’t copy Scarlett Johansson’s voice for ChatGPT, records show

washingtonpost.com

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Re: OpenAI didn’t copy Scarlett Johansson’s voice for ChatGPT, records show

#381

Post by boesboes »

dangoodmanUT wrote: post #338
omnicognate wrote: post #171

Comments full of people reading the headline and assuming that what OpenAI did here is fine because it's a different actress, but that's not how "Right of publicity" (*) laws work. The article itself explains that there is significant legal risk here: > Mitch Glazier, the chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America, said that Johansson may have a strong case against OpenAI if she brings forth a l…

> After she declined, Ford hired an impersonator. A U.S. appellate court ruled in Midler’s favor, indicating her voice was protected against unauthorized use. That's because it was impersonating them, not sounding like them. If they didn't try to sell it as them they would have been fine

That's the problem here too right? Sam implies the voice is scarlet with his references to Her.

To me it all just shows these tech-bro's are just spoiled little brads with strong incel energy. I 100% expect a scandal in a few months where it turns out Sam has a bunch of VR porn bots generated by AI that just 'happen' to look and sound EXACTLY like some celebs...

Re: OpenAI didn’t copy Scarlett Johansson’s voice for ChatGPT, records show

#382

Post by Terretta »

serial_dev wrote: post #34
skilled wrote: post #18

The thing that worried me initially was that: - the original report by Scarlett said she was approached months ago, and then two days prior to launch of GPT-4o she was approached again Because of the above, my immediate assumption was that OpenAI definitely did her dirty. But this report from WaPo debunks at least some of it, because the records they have seen show that the voice actor was contacted months in advance…

I don't know, to me, it's just sounds like they know how to cover all their bases. To me, it sounds like they had the idea to make their AI sound like "her". For the initial version, they had a voice actor that sounds like the movie, as a proof of concept. They still liked it, so it was time to contact the real star. In the end, it's not just the voice, it would have been the brand, just imagine the buzz they would h…

Sky doesn't sound like the movie, much less "uncanny".

Re: OpenAI didn’t copy Scarlett Johansson’s voice for ChatGPT, records show

#383

Post by Ukv »

naasking wrote: post #366
Ukv wrote: post #257

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The actress did impersonate Her though. Did she? The article claims that: 1. Multiple people agree that the casting call mentioned nothing about SJ/her 2. The voice actress claims she was not given instructions to imitate SJ/her 3. The actress's natural voice sounds identical to the AI-generated Sky voice I don't personally think it's anywhere near "identical" to SJ's voice. It seems most likely to me that they not…

> The actress's natural voice sounds identical to the AI-generated Sky voice No it doesn't.

> > The article claims that: [...]

> > 3. The actress's natural voice sounds identical to the AI-generated Sky voice

> No it doesn't.

That's a verbatim quote from the article (albeit based on brief recordings).

I haven't heard the anonymous voice actress's voice myself to corroborate WP's claim, but (unless there's information I'm unaware of) neither have you to claim the opposite.

Re: OpenAI didn’t copy Scarlett Johansson’s voice for ChatGPT, records show

#384

Post by snowwrestler »

gnicholas wrote: post #216
omnicognate wrote: post #171

Comments full of people reading the headline and assuming that what OpenAI did here is fine because it's a different actress, but that's not how "Right of publicity" (*) laws work. The article itself explains that there is significant legal risk here: > Mitch Glazier, the chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America, said that Johansson may have a strong case against OpenAI if she brings forth a l…

The Midler case is readily distinguishable. From Wikipedia: > Ford Motor created an ad campaign for the Mercury Sable that specifically was meant to inspire nostalgic sentiments through the use of famous songs from the 1970s sung by their original artists. When the original artists refused to accept, impersonators were used to sing the original songs for the commercials. Midler was asked to sing a famous song of hers…

Pulling the voice when ScarJo complained is not a good look. I’m sure her attorneys would be very excited to do discovery around that decision should it come to trial.

It won’t though, this is primarily a PR problem for OpenAI. Which is still a real problem when their future product development depends entirely on everyone giving them tons of data.

Re: OpenAI didn’t copy Scarlett Johansson’s voice for ChatGPT, records show

#385

Post by Timber-6539 »

It doesn't really matter now, the thought has already crept inside most people's minds, whether they copied her voice or didn't.

Sam probably should have changed the voice as soon as Scarlett noped out from the deal. All this furore could have been avoided.

Re: OpenAI didn’t copy Scarlett Johansson’s voice for ChatGPT, records show

#386

Post by XorNot »

itronitron wrote: post #314
czl wrote: post #245

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Listen to the voices side by side: https://www.reddit.com/r/ChatGPT/comments/1cwy6wz/vocal_comp... And here is voice of another actress ( Rashida Jones ): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=385414AVZcA If you click through and listen please reply and answer these questions: which actress do you think is similar to the openAI sky voice? And what does that tell you about likely court result for Johansson? And having reach…

Are you asking me to trust that a video clip posted to the ChatGPT subreddit by u/SWAMPMONK is providing an accurate audio recording of the openAI sky voice?

You can literally go look up the original demo footage on YouTube too. Which is what I did (before that comparison was created) and didn't think it sounded anything like SJ.

Put side by side...I can hear a similarity, but they're also distinctly different (the OAI voice doesn't have the huskiness of the Her VA IMO, but they're both Californian female with a bubbly demeanour).

Re: OpenAI didn’t copy Scarlett Johansson’s voice for ChatGPT, records show

#387

Post by sanderjd »

Havoc wrote: post #272
marcus_holmes wrote: post #228

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The actress did impersonate Her though. It's not just a random "voice for your chatbot", it's that particularly breathy, chatty, voice that she performed for the movie. I would agree with you completely if they'd created a completely different voice. Even if they'd impersonated a different famous actress. But it's the fact that Her was about an AI, and this is an AI, and the voices are identical. It's clearly an impe…

> it's that particularly breathy, chatty, voice that she performed for the movie. Good luck proving that in court. “You’re honor our evidence is that the audio clips both sound breathy”

I may be wrong, but I believe this case would be made to a jury, not to a judge.

I think it would be hard to seat a jury that, after laying out the facts about the attempts to hire Johansen, and the tweet at the time of release, would have even one person credulous enough to be convinced this was all an honest mix-up.

Which is why it will never in a million years go to a trial.

Re: OpenAI didn’t copy Scarlett Johansson’s voice for ChatGPT, records show

#389

Post by 1vuio0pswjnm7 »

omnicognate wrote: post #171

Comments full of people reading the headline and assuming that what OpenAI did here is fine because it's a different actress, but that's not how "Right of publicity" (*) laws work. The article itself explains that there is significant legal risk here: > Mitch Glazier, the chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America, said that Johansson may have a strong case against OpenAI if she brings forth a l…

OpenAI hires voice actress. Then it contacts famous actress for a license. Why. The implication is that OpenAI knows there is a potential legal issue.

Then later, when OpenAI promotes voice actress with an apparent reference to famous actress' work, and famous actress complains, OpenAI "pauses" the project. If OpenAI believes there is no issue, then why pause the project.

This behaviour certainly looks like OpenAI thought it needed a license from famous actress. If there is another explanation, OpenAI has not provided it.

Re: OpenAI didn’t copy Scarlett Johansson’s voice for ChatGPT, records show

#390

Post by xpe »

SilverBirch wrote: post #374
throwaway115 wrote: post #133

This whole thing is starting to feel like another Sam Altman spotlight production. There's enough evidence to show no wrongdoing, but it was handled in a way to make people think there was a scandal. Maximum spotlight for relatively low risk. I wonder if people will get tired of being jerked around like this.

I don't think you understand. It's extremely well established in law, you can't approach someone to voice an advert for you, get told no, and then hire an impersonator to do it. Take all the AI hype bullshit and the cult of personality bullshit out of it. What Altman did is very standard and very clearly not allowed. He will end up paying for this in monetary terms, and paying further for it in the reputation damage…

> It's extremely well established in law, you can't approach someone to voice an advert for you, get told no, and then hire an impersonator to do it.

Can you explain and/or cite the legal basis here? What cases? What law?

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